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Even_So
Guest
Have there been any prophets since our Lord came as Messiah? We know of false prophets, but what about legitimate ones since?
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el_dominguero
Guest
The last prophet I know of is John the Evangelizer who wrote the Book of Revelation.
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ServusHumilis
Guest
Sure… all the traditional minded holy priests that stand at the pulpit and give good homilies every week.
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Ceddd99
Guest
I have heard some Christians say that the prophetic age is over, which does not mean that there are no prophets today but rather that God no longer speaks to us primarily through prophets. A prophet is essentially someone who speaks for God, so any sufficiently holy person can be a prophet. But God does not seem to be raising up great prophets who perform signs and wonders and lead people to God like he used to in Old Testament times.
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Servant19
Guest
A prophet prophecies.
May I ask what prophecies do any of these holy priests give and where can I read about them please?
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vsedriver
Guest
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on Humane Vitae was pretty prophetic.
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Dorothy
Guest
Prophecy is not only directed to future happenings or conditional happenings.
It is also putting one’s finger on the pulse of the times and speaking boldly the truth in love.
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Randy_Carson
Guest
:nope:
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Randy_Carson
Guest
Hebrews 1:1-3
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
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Theo520
Guest
There are many misconceptions about prophecy, with both the gift of prophecy (I Corinthians 12) and the office of the prophet (Ephesians 4:11).
You may prophesy, but operating in the simple gift of prophecy does not qualify you to stand in the office of a prophet. To stand in the office of a prophet, one must have a consistent manifestation of at least two of the revelation gifts (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or discerning of spirits) plus prophecy.
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ltwin
Guest
Yes. There are 5 mentioned in Acts 13. Acts 21 tells us of Agabus who spoke to Paul (yes the Apostle Paul) “Thus says the Holy Spirit.” In the same chapter, we are told that Philip the evangelist had 4 unmarried daughters who prophesied.
In 1 Corinthians 11, men are directed to pray or prophesy with uncovered heads, while women are directed to pray or prophesy with heads covered (verses 4-5).
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul teaches that there are spiritual gifts given to the church. These include prophesy as well as other forms of revelatory gifts:
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
On the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, Peter quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel, who prophesied about the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the Church:
‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
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steido01
Guest
Would a Pentecostal consider anyone who has been given the gift of prophesy to be a prophet?
I know close to nothing about Pentecostal beliefs, and I’d like to read an educated explanation of how legitimate Gifts of the Spirit might be recognized. Regrettably, with Pentecostal websites, it’s hard to find much that couldn’t be subject to Poe’s Law. If you have recommendations, do pass them on.
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steido01
Guest
And the Son sent us His Spirit, so I’m not sure the writer of Hebrews is necessarily abrogating what Paul said, that the gifts of the Spirit are given to the faithful. But maybe I’m not understanding something here.
That said, I do see a conflation in this thread between the Prophets and those who prophesy.
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ltwin
Guest
All Christians have the potential to prophesy. In the Old Testament, possession of the Holy Spirit was closely tied to wisdom and revelation, which is reflected in Joel’s prophecy that in the last days all of God’s children would prophesy when the Spirit was poured out. Further back, Moses stated, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). This association of the Holy Spirit with prophecy still exists in modern Judaism.
Pentecostal theologian Roger Strondad wrote a book entitled The Prophethood of All Believers: A Study in Luke’s Charismatic Theology that looks directly at this question. This book is sort of a sequel to an earlier work, The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke: Trajectories from the Old Testament to Luke-Acts.
Pentecostals view prophecy as an activity that all Christians have the potential to undertake under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In other words, all Christians might prophesy, but not all Christians are prophets. The title or descriptor of “prophet” is usually limited to those who consistently move in this gift and can be said to fill the office or ministry of the prophet.
The prophet is one of the ministry gifts given to the church (Ephesians 4:11), but it is interesting to note that few Pentecostal churches actually recognize an official “prophetic” office comparable to a pastoral or evangelistic or teaching office. Prophets are recognized as prophets if they function as prophets not because they have any kind of title or ecclesiastical powers.
In The Holy Spirit: A Pentecostal Perspective, theologian Anthony D. Palma looks at spiritual gifts, including prophecy, in detail. This is a very reduced description of prophecy taken from Palma:
Prophecy, then, is a supernatural communication designed primarily to help believers in their Christian walk. And it is significant that the classical passage on the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14) makes no reference to a predictive element. 47 Prophesying means “translating the Christian faith into the very situation of the hearer …, into the life of this very week.” 48
Palma also points out that prophecy serves to strengthen and encourage the congregation (1 Corinthians 14:3-4). Prophecy also has similarities with teaching, even though prophecy and teaching are two distinct gifts (1 Cor. 14:31).
*A restriction placed upon prophetic utterances is that “the others should weigh carefully [diakrinô] what is said” ( 1 Cor. 14: 29b ). Three questions immediately suggest themselves: (1) Who are “the others”? (2) What is the meaning of “weigh”? (3) By what means should this weighing take place?
(1) Opinion is divided on the identity of “the others” (v. 29 ). It may mean either the rest of the congregation 34 or the other prophets. 35 There is no indication that the weighing of prophecies was the prerogative of prophets. The contrary is the case when we observe the listing of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12: 8– 10 in which prophecy is given to one and distinguishing between spirits to another.
(2) The word for “weigh” in 1 Corinthians 14: 29 (diakrinô) is the verb form of the first word of the gift of “distinguishing [diakrisis] of spirits” ( 1 Cor. 12: 10 , NASB). 36 It is not accidental that in the list of charismata these two gifts occur together, and in logical order—prophecy first, distinguishing of spirits afterward . This latter gift is the ability to differentiate the Holy Spirit not only from an unclean spirit, 37 but also from a human spirit which, according to some, might speak in ecstasy.38
In addition, Paul, following the lead of the Old Testament ( Deut. 13: 2– 6 ; 18: 21– 22 ), says that content, not manner, is the rule by which prophecies must be assessed. 42 The specific criterion Paul mentions is the utterance of the statement “‘Jesus is Lord’ ” ( 1 Cor. 12: 3 ). Similarly, a truly inspired person cannot say “‘Jesus be cursed’ ” because “ t] he Spirit (who of course is the ‘Spirit of the Lord,’ 2 Cor. 3: 17 ) cannot contradict himself . He cannot curse Jesus.” 43 But at best, this is only a partial criterion, because neither of these two statements may be present in a prophetic utterance. 44 Strikingly parallel is the thrust of 1 John 4: 1– 3 , which also poses a doctrinal test— the humanity of Jesus. “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (v. 2 ). We should note that John is writing to combat a form of Gnostic heresy that denied the full humanity of Jesus Christ.
Since the statements by prophets just mentioned are doctrinal in nature, they give us a guiding principle for evaluating prophecies. I have already noted that apostles have priority over prophets, so we may infer from Paul’s and John’s statements that doctrinal tests must be applied to prophecies. The original word and witness of the apostles finds definitive form in the New Testament canon, so for the present day the New Testament should be the criterion by which all prophetic utterances are evaluated. 45 This is in line with a strict translation (offered as a footnote in the NIV) of the Romans 12: 6 phrase quoted earlier, “in proportion to his faith”: “in agreement with the faith,” meaning the Christian faith, or the body of truth accepted by the Church. This, then, would mean that the prophet “is forbidden to suppress or add anything on his own authority. He stands on the ‘ground’ of faith which the apostle has laid.” . . .
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7_Sorrows
Guest
Good point!
There are men out there who I think want people to feel they are prophets like Jack Van Impe and John Hogue and others, but I feel they are doing their prophecies for themselves rather than God speaking through them. I might be wrong.
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arthra
Guest
As I recall from my reading that “prophets” were kind of a loose knit collection of people who used to “prophesy” in the early church… there were also people who “spoke in tongues” and people who could interpret what was said.
There were fairly clear teachings in the Didache an early Christian document what a false prophet was…
"And every prophet who orders a meal in the Spirit does not eat it, unless he is indeed a false prophet.
“And every prophet who teaches the truth, but does not do what he teaches, is a false prophet…” and so on.
earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html
The problem is that any “prophet” not liked by whomever can be designated a “false” prophet.
There were fairly clear teachings in the Didache an early Christian document what a false prophet was…
"And every prophet who orders a meal in the Spirit does not eat it, unless he is indeed a false prophet.
“And every prophet who teaches the truth, but does not do what he teaches, is a false prophet…” and so on.
earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html
The problem is that any “prophet” not liked by whomever can be designated a “false” prophet.
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Randy_Carson
Guest
The gift of prophecy is one of the spiritual gifts; however, because public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle, all prophetic utterances delivered since that time have been considered private revelation which is not binding upon the consciences of all believers.
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steido01
Guest
Now that’s more in-line with what I understood.
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eazyduzit
Guest
John Hagee and Jack Van Impe do not hold a prophetic office. Examples of major prophetic voices are, Rick Joyner, John Paul Jackson(Streams Ministries), Bobby Connor(The Shepherds Rod), Hank and Brenda Kunneman. To hear an amazing interview about current events see Sid Roth’s interview with prophet Glenda Jackson. (On YouTube)Good point!
There are men out there who I think want people to feel they are prophets like Jack Van Impe and John Hogue and others, but I feel they are doing their prophecies for themselves rather than God speaking through them. I might be wrong.
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7_Sorrows
Guest
I have never heard of any of those people.
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